Nova Broadband CEO Dave McDonald said that the expansion represents a 2,000pc increase in network footprint.

The expansion and increase in customer numbers will also allow Nova Broadband to increase staff numbers by 40pc and relocate the company headquarters to a bigger premises in Carrigtwohill, Co Cork.

The next phase of the national expansion plan is due to kick off in 2017 with expansion of Nova’s presence into three prominent Dublin data centres in January (BT Citywest, Equinix Citywest and Viatel).

This core back-end expansion will increase network capacity by over 2,000pc and will allow Nova to scale up its business offering, providing further fibre and dedicated services to businesses nationwide.

As a result, Nova said it intends to create up to 20 new jobs in the next 24 months as it continues to expand into other counties.

Wholesale growth opportunities

The expansion occurs as wholesale access prospects for regional broadband players improves, as both Eir and Siro continue with their respective fibre roll-outs and the contract for the National Broadband Plan – shortlisted to Eir, Enet and Siro – is due to be awarded in 2017.

“2016 has been a phenomenal year for us,” said McDonald.

“We took a lot of risks and invested heavily and luckily for us, it paid off. We have grown hugely in the last 12 months and our aim is to double that growth in 2017.

“This year, we concentrated a lot on our business networks – an area that we know inside and out, one which we will plan to concentrate more on next year.

“We will also be continuing our national expansion plan next year and are looking forward to welcoming more Nova Broadband customers on board as we grow,” McDonald said.